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on Experimental Economics |
| By: | Laura Breitkopf; Shyamal Chowdhury; Daniel A. Kamhöfer; Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch; Matthias Sutter; Daniel Kamhöfer |
| Abstract: | Identifying sensitive periods in which the returns to investments into skills are especially high is challenging, but crucial for an effective and efficient timing of parental or public investments aimed at fostering children’s skills. We can detect sensitive periods with a novel design by implementing the same investment in different school grades and examining grade-specific treatment effects. Based on a randomized controlled trial with more than 3, 200 Bangladeshi children in grades 2 to 5, we find sensitive periods in the formation of self-control and patience in grade 2 (age 7–8), while prosociality remains similarly malleable throughout grades 2 to 5 (age 7–11). |
| Keywords: | sensitive periods, skill formation, randomized controlled trial, self-control, patience, prosociality, social and emotional learning program, experiments with children, Bangladesh |
| JEL: | C93 D01 D64 J13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11953 |
| By: | Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Fafchamps, Marcel; Goldstein, Markus; Leonard, Kenneth L.; Papineni, Sreelakshmi |
| Abstract: | We conduct an original lab-in-the-field experiment on the decision–making process of married couples over the allocation of rival and non-rival household goods. The experiment measures individual preferences over allocations and traces the process of deferral, consultation, communication and accommodation by which couples implement these preferences. We find few differences in individual preferences over allocations of goods. However, wives and husbands have strong preferences over process: women prefer to defer decisions to their husbands even when deferral is costly and is not observed by the husband; men rarely defer under any condition. Our study follows a randomized controlled trial that ended a year earlier and gave large cash transfers over eighteen months to half of the women in the study. We estimate the effect of treatment on the demand for agency among women and find that the receipt of cash transfers does not change women’s bargaining process except in a secret condition when the decision to defer is shrouded from her husband. This suggests that the cash transfer to women increases their demand for agency but does not change the intra-household balance of power enough to allow them to express it publicly. |
| Keywords: | bargaining power; cash transfers; decision making; intrahousehold relations; Nigeria; Africa; Western Africa |
| Date: | 2024–09–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:152230 |
| By: | Breitkopf, Laura; Chowdhury, Shyamal K.; Kamhöfer, Daniel A.; Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah; Sutter, Matthias |
| Abstract: | Identifying sensitive periods in which the returns to investments into skills are especially high is challenging, but crucial for an effective and efficient timing of parental or public investments aimed at fostering children's skills. We can detect sensitive periods with a novel design by implementing the same investment in different school grades and examining grade-specific treatment effects. Based on a randomized controlled trial with more than 3, 200 Bangladeshi children in grades 2 to 5, we find sensitive periods in the formation of self-control and patience in grade 2 (age 7-8), while prosociality remains similarly malleable throughout grades 2 to 5 (age 7-11). |
| Keywords: | Sensitive periods, skill formation, randomized controlled trial, self-control, patience, prosociality, social and emotional learning program, experiments with children, Bangladesh |
| JEL: | C93 D01 D64 J13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:319881 |
| By: | Laura Breitkopf (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn); Shyamal Chowdhury (Australian National University); Daniel A. Kamhöfer (University of Kaiserslautern-Landau); Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn); Matthias Sutter (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn) |
| Abstract: | Identifying sensitive periods in which the returns to investments into skills are especially high is challenging, but crucial for an effective and efficient timing of parental or public investments aimed at fostering children’s skills. We can detect sensitive periods with a novel design by implementing the same investment in different school grades and examining grade-specific treatment effects. Based on a randomized controlled trial with more than 3, 200 Bangladeshi children in grades 2 to 5, we find sensitive periods in the formation of self-control and patience in grade 2 (age 7–8), while prosociality remains similarly malleable throughout grades 2 to 5 (age 7–11). |
| Keywords: | Sensitive periods, skill formation, randomized controlled trial, self-control, patience, prosociality, social and emotional learning program, experiments with children, Bangladesh |
| JEL: | C93 D01 D64 J13 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpg:wpaper:2025_09 |
| By: | François Cochard (Université Marie et Louis Pasteur, CRESE (UR3190), F-25000 Besançon, France); Emmanuel Peterle (Université Marie et Louis Pasteur, CRESE (UR3190), F-25000 Besançon, France); Jean-Christian Tisserand (CEREN (UR 7477), Burgundy School of Business, F-21000, Dijon, France) |
| Abstract: | We study how setting a maximum limit on donations affects how much people give to charity. In a laboratory experiment with 210 participants, we compare three conditions: a neutral baseline, a suggested donation amount, and a capped maximum donation. We find that imposing a donation ceiling significantly increases both the likelihood and the amount of giving compared to the baseline. Moreover, ceilings perform at least as well as suggestions in our experimental setting. |
| Keywords: | Charitable giving ; Donation ceilings ; Behavioral interventions ; Lab experiment ; Anchoring ; Completion effect |
| JEL: | C91 D64 L31 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crb:wpaper:2025-06 |
| By: | Riccardo Manghi (LUISS Guido Carli University); Daniela Di Cagno (LUISS Guido Carli University) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates individual differences in catastrophic risk perception using Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT) through a laboratory experiment. The choice of CPT allows us to introduce a basic "addendum" to traditional EUT evaluations of these kinds of risks. We analyze the drivers of risk perception through a laboratory measure of CPT based on experimental data, where possible drivers include sociodemographic factors, psychological characteristics, and psychometric variables such as past experience. We define in this setting an interesting aspect that is a peculiar characteristic of extreme risks: the so-called shared burden effect, where individuals perceive the same risks as less severe if they affect a larger share of the collectivity. External validity is provided by examining whether laboratory-elicited risk perception predicts real-world extreme risk assessments. |
| Keywords: | risk perception, catastrophic risk, prospect theory, experimental economics, shared burden effect |
| JEL: | D81 C91 |
| Date: | 2025–06–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:605 |
| By: | Yukihiko Funaki (Waseda University) |
| Abstract: | Cooperative game theory addresses two problems: coalition formation and payoff distribution. We hypothesize that the existence of the core, which is a fundamental concept in cooperative game theory, affects coalition formation, and we examine this hypothesis through a laboratory experiment. In the experiment, three subjects in a group bargain with each other on both the coalition formation and the payoff distribution simultaneously. The bargaining protocol is unstructured, i.e., similar to a real bargaining situation. As a result, we obtain the following findings. First, the existence of a core strongly induces the formation of the grand coalition. Second, resulting allocations are frequently in the core when it exists and are at least in the equal division core, which is an extension of the core. Finally, resulting allocations that are outside of the equal division core mostly arise due to ignorance of domination via coalition BC, which is the lowest-value two-person coalition. |
| Keywords: | laboratory experiment, unstructured bargaining, cooperative games, the core, communication |
| JEL: | C71 C91 C92 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wap:wpaper:2515 |
| By: | Susan Athey; Raj Chetty; Guido Imbens |
| Abstract: | Researchers increasingly have access to two types of data: (i) large observational datasets where treatment (e.g., class size) is not randomized but several primary outcomes (e.g., graduation rates) and secondary outcomes (e.g., test scores) are observed and (ii) experimental data in which treatment is randomized but only secondary outcomes are observed. We develop a new method to estimate treatment effects on primary outcomes in such settings. We use the difference between the secondary outcome and its predicted value based on the experimental treatment effect to measure selection bias in the observational data. Controlling for this estimate of selection bias yields an unbiased estimate of the treatment effect on the primary outcome under a new assumption that we term "latent unconfoundedness, " which requires that the same confounders affect the primary and secondary outcomes. Latent unconfoundedness weakens the assumptions underlying commonly used surrogate estimators. We apply our estimator to identify the effect of third grade class size on students’ outcomes. Estimated impacts on test scores using OLS regressions in observational school district data have the opposite sign of estimates from the Tennessee STAR experiment. In contrast, selection-corrected estimates in the observational data replicate the experimental estimates. Our estimator reveals that reducing class sizes by 25% increases high school graduation rates by 0.7 percentage points. Controlling for observables does not change the OLS estimates, demonstrating that experimental selection correction can remove biases that cannot be addressed with standard controls. |
| JEL: | C14 C21 C52 I26 J0 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33817 |
| By: | Sanchaita Hazra; Marta Serra-Garcia |
| Abstract: | LLMs are emerging as information sources that influence organizational knowledge, though trust in them varies. This paper combines data from a large-scale experiment and the World Values Survey (WVS) to examine the determinants of trust in LLMs. The experiment measures trust in LLM-generated answers to policy-relevant questions among over 2, 900 participants across 11 countries. Trust in the LLM is significantly lower in high-income countries-especially among individuals with right-leaning political views and lower educational attainment-compared to low- and middle-income countries. Using large-scale data on trust from the WVS, we show that patterns of trust in the LLM differ from those in generalized trust but closely align with trust in traditional information sources. These findings highlight that comparing trust in LLMs to other forms of societal trust can deepen our understanding of the potential societal impacts of AI. |
| Keywords: | information, generative AI, accuracy, trust, experiment |
| JEL: | D83 D91 C72 C91 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11954 |
| By: | Chlond, Bettina; Goeschl, Timo; Lohse, Johannes |
| Abstract: | Randomized controlled trials remain underutilized in informing policy design, despite their potential. Moral objections to experimentation (“experiment aversion”) have been proposed as an explanation. We present three studies with members of the general public and policy-makers that allow us to measure and compare moral approval, stated preferences as well as revealed preferences for policy experimentation, within the overarching context of a public assistance program. We find that evidence based on moral approval systematically underestimates revealed preferences for policy experimentation due to conceptual misalignment and hypothetical bias. People and policy-makers trade off possible moral objections against the benefits of policy experimentation. |
| Date: | 2025–07–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:awi:wpaper:0763 |
| By: | Zhengrong Gu; Garrett A. Johnson; Shunto J. Kobayashi |
| Abstract: | As regulators seek to balance user privacy with publisher sustainability, Google's Privacy Sandbox offers a potential replacement for third-party cookies. This paper presents the first independent estimates of the publisher-side economic effects of Privacy Sandbox, a suite of privacy-enhancing technologies for online advertising. Leveraging an open, industry-wide field experiment, we partner with a major ad management firm to evaluate over 200 million ad impressions across more than 5, 000 publishers. We find that removing third-party cookies reduces publisher revenue by 29.1%, while Privacy Sandbox preserves just 4.2% of this lost revenue. We further document that Privacy Sandbox increases ad latency and reduces impression delivery by 2.9%. The results underscore the continued economic tension between privacy and the funding of online content. |
| Keywords: | privacy, online advertising, privacy-enhancing technologies, online content |
| JEL: | L86 M31 M38 O38 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11931 |
| By: | Nigus, Halefom Yigzaw; Abay, Kibrom A. |
| Abstract: | In rural settings, community leaders play important roles in mobilizing resources and delivering public goods and services. However, little is known about their attributes and incentives in delivering these public goods and services. Exploiting survey, lab-in-the-field experiment, and geo-referenced data, we study the role of leaders, especially women’s leadership, and their exposure to conflict in explaining differences in cooperation among com-munity leaders in Ethiopia. We measure cooperation through a public-good experiment and examine the implications of community leaders’ characteristics. We then merge these lab-in-the field experimental data with geo-referenced data on conflict exposure to examine the implication of different types of conflict on community leaders’ cooperation behavior. We find that female leaders contribute more to public goods than their male counterparts. For example, compared to those assuming the highest official administrative responsibility in the village, women leaders contribute about 11 percent more to the public good. We also document nuanced findings that reconcile existing mixed evidence on the implication of exposure to conflict on cooperation: while conflict events that affect the whole community, such as political violence (including battles) are associated with higher cooperation, other types of conflict (e.g., demonstrations and riots) are associated with lower levels of cooperation. Finally, we identify additional predictors of cooperation among community leaders, including beliefs about other leaders’ cooperative behavior. These findings shed light on potential avenues for facilitating and fostering cooperation among community leaders. |
| Keywords: | conflicts; cooperation; leaders; public goods; women; women's empowerment; war; Ethiopia; Africa; Eastern Africa |
| Date: | 2024–09–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:152266 |
| By: | Daniele Caliari (Università di Napoli Federico II, CSEF and UCFS, Uppsala University); Valentino Dardanoni (Università di Palermo); Carla Guerriero (Università di Napoli Federico II and CSEF); Paola Manzini (School of Economics, University of Bristol); Marco Mariotti (School of Economics and Finance, Queen Mary University of London) |
| Abstract: | Choice mistakes may be consequential. While we have plentiful evidence on adult behaviour, childrenÕs choices are much less studied, yet not only may they shed light on adult behaviour, but they are themselves important, as potentially leading to low educational attainment, unhealthy food choices, and risky behaviours. In this paper, we study experimentally how childrenÕs choice consistency and ability to avoid mistakes change with age. We study choice by primary school children in two (ubiquitous) domains: riskless and risky choice. We elicit complete choice functions over deterministic choices, while for lotteries we introduce a novel experimental design, documenting as a particular type of framing effect, consistent with correlation neglect, so far only studied in adults. With plentiful evidence of choice errors in adults, unsurprisingly choice errors and inconsistencies abound in children - strikingly though, in some cases already by age 10-11 children display error rates which are close to those observed in adults. Our results are well captured by a model of limited, stochastic consideration. Our experiment is rich enough to highlight the shape that potential interventions could take, aiming at increasing childrenÕs consideration capacity. Different socioeconomic backgrounds seem to matter, though, reassuringly, the gap does tend to close over time. |
| Keywords: | correlation neglect, bounded rationality, violations of first order stochastic dominance. |
| JEL: | D01 D90 |
| Date: | 2024–11–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:737 |
| By: | Abate, Gashaw T.; Abay, Kibrom A.; Chamberlin, Jordan; Sebsibie, Samuel |
| Abstract: | The emergence of rural land rental markets in Sub-Saharan Africa is recognized as a key component of the region’s ongoing economic transformation. However, the evidence base on land market participation relies on survey-derived measures, which do not always cohere when compared and triangulated, suggesting the possibility of non-trivial measurement error. We report the results of a priming and list experiments designed to shed light on a persistent mystery in rural household survey data from Africa: why there are so many fewer self-reported landlords (renters-out) than tenants (renters-in)? Our design addresses two hypotheses using experimental data from Ethiopia. First, rented-out and rented-in land may be systematically underreported because enumerators and respondents are typically primed to emphasize parcels that are actively managed/cultivated by the household. Second, rented or sharecropped-out land may be systematically underreported because of respondents’ reluctance to acknowledge an activity for which public disclosure may have negative repercussions. We address the first hypothesis with a priming experiment by exposing a random subset of respondents to a nudge that explicitly reminded them to fully account for all land, including rented/sharecropped-in and rented/sharecropped-out. We address the second hypothesis with a double-list experiment, designed to elicit true rates of land renting and sharecropping-out. We find that nudging induces about 4 percentage points increase (or 13% in relative terms) in the share of households participating in renting in or sharecropping-in practices but has negligible effects on reported rates of renting and sharecropping-out. Interestingly, our list experiment indicates much higher revealed rates of renting-out (14-15%) than is reflected in the nominal parcel-roster responses (3%). The magnitude of the latter finding fully explains the apparent difference in renting in versus renting-out rates derived from the regular parcel roster responses. These results indicate that efforts to document land market participation rate and associated impacts must overcome large systematic reporting biases. |
| Keywords: | land; households; survey design; surveys; Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2024–05–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:144206 |
| By: | Armando Miano (University of Naples Federico II and CSEF.) |
| Abstract: | I study how beliefs about search costs, returns to search effort, and outside options relate to the job mobility decisions of employed workers. I design an online survey and administer it to a representative sample of wage and salaried workers in the US. In the survey, I directly measure employed workers’ perceptions of search costs—time, money, stress—the perceived returns to their job search effort—the expected success rate of their job applications—and their beliefs about their opportunities outside of their current job. I document significant heterogeneity in expectations across demographic groups. Women expect higher costs and lower returns to effort. I find that beliefs about outside options, returns to search effort and search costs are significant predictors of job search intentions. Respondents who expect to spend more time looking for job openings have a lower propensity to search, consistent with the relevance of information frictions. Using two information experiments, I show that accurate information about the median wage does not affect search intentions, whereas shifting perceived search costs improves women’s willingness to search. |
| Keywords: | On-the-Job Search, Job Mobility, Search Costs, Survey, Subjective Expectations, Online Experiment. |
| JEL: | J01 J62 D91 D83 |
| Date: | 2025–06–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:753 |
| By: | Daniel Herbst |
| Abstract: | For workers facing uncertain output, fixed-wage contracts provide implicit insurance compared to self-employment or performance-based pay. But like any insurance product, these contracts are prone to market distortions through moral hazard and adverse selection. Using a model of wage contracts under asymmetric information, I show how these distortions can be identified as potential outcomes in a marginal treatment effects (MTE) framework. I apply this framework to a field experiment in which data-entry workers are offered a choice between a randomized fixed hourly wage and a piece rate. Using experimental wage offers as an instrument for hourly wage take-up, I find evidence of both moral hazard and adverse selection. Hourly wage contracts reduce worker productivity by an estimated 6.32 percent relative to the mean. Meanwhile, a 10 percent increase in the hourly wage offer attracts a marginal worker whose productivity is higher by 1.44 percent of mean worker output. Using semi-parametric MTE estimation, I calculate the welfare loss associated with asymmetric information and the marginal values of public funds (MVPFs) for a range of wage-based subsidy and tax policies. My estimates suggest that a 14-percent tax on performance-based pay can efficiently raise government revenue by mitigating adverse selection into fixed-wage contracts. |
| Keywords: | compensation structure, wage insurance, performance pay, adverse selection, moral hazard, information asymmetries, marginal treatment effects |
| JEL: | J33 J38 M52 D82 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11946 |
| By: | Lesman Ghazaryan (EESC-GEM Grenoble Ecole de Management, USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry] - Université Savoie Mont Blanc); Corinne Faure (EESC-GEM Grenoble Ecole de Management); Joachim Schleich (EESC-GEM Grenoble Ecole de Management, Fraunhofer ISI - Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research - Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft - Fraunhofer); Mia M. Birau (EM - EMLyon Business School) |
| Abstract: | Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) tariff schemes, in which households pay based on their waste generation, are proposed as solutions to the growing worldwide challenge of municipal solid waste management. However, public acceptance of such schemes remains low. Using a one-factor between-subject experimental survey design with 620 participants, we test the effects of environmental and accountability appeals and of individual characteristics in shaping preferences for a proposed PAYT scheme in Grenoble, France. We find a positive effect of the accountability appeal and no effect of the environmental appeal on preference for the PAYT scheme compared to a fixed-fee scheme. Additional analyses suggest that accountability appeals are particularly effective for individuals with below-median age, above-median income, and at least a master's degree, indicating that policymakers should target younger and educated citizens with these appeals in PAYT campaigns. Future research could test the applicability of these findings in other settings and for other waste-related interventions. |
| Keywords: | Pay-as-you-throw, Unit pricing of waste, Waste management, Communication strategies, Public acceptability, Survey experiment |
| Date: | 2025–06–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:gemptp:hal-05083048 |
| By: | Friedson-Ridenour, Sophia; Hailemicheal, Adiam Hagos; Ochem, Dumebi Uzoabaka; Papineni, Sreelakshmi |
| Abstract: | Husbands are often key stakeholders and influential in women’s enterprise performance. Intrahousehold constraints and relational dynamics may contribute to a gender gap in entrepreneurship. This mixed-methods paper uses a randomized controlled trial and qualitative research to examine whether the returns to a skills intervention to women business owners are higher with a couples training. The couples training curriculum involves modelling effective communication techniques between married women entrepreneurs and their husbands to help build empathy, scrutinize intrahousehold resource allocation, and encourage greater spousal support. The findings suggest that the skills intervention increases business practices and women’s economic autonomy with treated women being 30 percent more likely to report sole decision-making power in their business. Smaller firms (defined by lower than median baseline profitability) benefit the most from the couples-based approach, earning 50 percent higher revenues and profits when trained with husbands. The channel to higher profitability appears to be improved negotiation skills affording women more time for their businesses, without increased marital conflict. Larger firms increase access to credit but there is no evidence of an impact on profits. The paper contributes to the evidence base on engaging men to help unleash the economic potential of women. |
| Date: | 2025–06–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11151 |
| By: | Carli, Francesco; Cecchi, Francesco; Fritz, Manuela; Lensink, Robert; Uras, Burak |
| Abstract: | Joint liability loans are used in various settings, including business partnerships, agricultural cooperatives, and real estate investment. Most notably, they have been central to the microfinance model since the 1970s. Despite early promises, recent evidence suggests that joint liability has not consistently reduced loan defaults or operational costs. As a result, microfinance institutions (MFIs) worldwide are increasingly shifting toward individual liability contracts. A key limitation of traditional joint liability loans lies in their symmetric contract structure, which often leads to coordination failures and free-riding: while peers can enforce repayment, they may jointly default or shirk monitoring responsibilities. We propose that introducing asymmetry in joint liability contracts, by designating one group member as a lead borrower with preferential interest rates, can enhance peer monitoring and reduce moral hazard. We extend an existing theoretical model of ex-ante moral hazard (investment behavior) to the scenario of hazard (strategic default) and evaluate both frameworks through a lab-in-the-field experiment with microfinance clients in urban Bolivia. Our experimental results show that asymmetric contracts significantly increase peer monitoring by 17-20% in both moral hazard scenarios. These findings suggest that asymmetric group lending contracts offer a promising path to reviving joint liability in microfinance. |
| Keywords: | Microfinance;Asymmetric joint liability;Group leader;Peer monitoring;Investment diligency;Strategic default;Lab-in-the-field |
| JEL: | D86 G21 O12 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:14162 |
| By: | Alda Botelho Azevedo (Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa); Inês Gonçalves (Nova School of Business and Economics, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa); João Pereira dos Santos (Queen Mary University of London, ISEG – University of Lisbon, and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Our study investigates public opinion on the housing affordability crisis in Portugal through a nationally representative survey combined with an information provision experiment. Participants were asked to identify perceived causes of rising housing prices, assess their factual knowledge of the housing market and sociodemographic trends, and indicate their preferred policy solutions, carefully framed to reflect trade-offs. Half of the respondents were randomly assigned to receive official statistical information on these trends before indicating their policy preferences. The findings reveal significant heterogeneity in beliefs about the causes of the crisis, pervasive misperceptions regarding market trends, and a limited impact of information provision on policy preferences. These results underscore the challenges of addressing housing policy through informational interventions alone and highlight the need for strategies that integrate behavioral and contextual factors to foster informed public engagement. |
| Keywords: | Real estate prices; Information-provision experiment; Population; Tourism; Portugal |
| JEL: | R31 F60 J18 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mde:wpaper:191 |
| By: | Freitag, Karolin; Kiemes, Laura; Wuttke, Alexander |
| Abstract: | This report documents our replication of Braley et al.'s (2023) study, which examined whether voters become less willing to subvert democratic norms upon learning that their political opponents are more committed to democracy than previously assumed. The original study found that correcting voters' misperceptions about their opponents' democratic commitments effectively reduced their own willingness to undermine democratic norms. We replicate this finding within the German multiparty context, performing a direct replication with minimal modifications to the original design. Necessary adaptations address the multiparty structure in Germany, where identifying an out-party is less straightforward than in a two-party system. Additionally, we refined some survey items to enhance clarity. Consistent with the original findings, our replication study shows that correcting voters' misperceptions about the democratic commitment of out-partisans reduces their own willingness to subvert democratic norms, from 0.25 in the control group to 0.19 in the treatment group (on a 0-1 scale). In standardized terms, the observed treatment effect size (Cohen's d = 0.4) closely matches the original effect, exceeding it by 8%. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:235 |
| By: | Ragasa, Catherine; Ma, Ning; Hami, Emmanuel |
| Abstract: | Many rural producer groups face poor management practices, low productivity, and weak market linkages. An information and communication technology (ICT)-based intervention bundle was provided to producer groups to transform them into ICT hubs, where members learn about and adopt improved management practices and increase their productivity and incomes. The intervention bundle includes phone messages and videos, promotion of the call center/hotline, and facilitation of radio listening clubs and collective marketing. The study, a cluster-randomized controlled trial, randomly assigned 59 groups into treatment groups and 59 into control groups. After 18 months of interventions, results show positive but small impact on crop sales (USD65 per household) and no impact on productivity. The income effect was mainly from Kasungu and Nkhota-kota, which experienced increased production and sales of rice, soybean, and groundnut and received higher prices due to collective marketing. Farmers in Kasungu and Nkhota-kota improved a few agricultural management practices, while farmers in other districts did not improve their management practices. Results show more farmers accessing phone messaging on agriculture and markets, greater awareness and use of the call center, more listening groups established, and more farmers—especially women—joining these groups. Nevertheless, coverage and uptake remain very low, which are likely reasons for the limited impact. |
| Keywords: | markets; Information and Communication Technologies; digital agriculture; digital extension tools; impact assessment; sales; productivity; agriculture; Malawi; Africa; Eastern Africa |
| Date: | 2024–06–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:148814 |
| By: | Lukas Hensel; Kate Orkin; Andrea Kiss; Robert Garlick |
| Abstract: | Worker sorting into tasks and occupations has long been recognized as an impor¬tant feature of labor markets. But this sorting may be inefficient if jobseekers have inaccurate beliefs about their skills and therefore apply to jobs that do not match their skills. To test this idea, we measure young South African jobseekers’ communication and numeracy skills and their beliefs about their skill levels. Many jobseekers be¬lieve they are better at the skill in which they score lower, relative to other jobseekers. These beliefs predict the skill requirements of jobs where they apply. In two field ex¬periments, giving jobseekers their skill assessment results shifts their beliefs toward their assessment results. It also redirects their search toward jobs that value the skill in which they score relatively higher – using measures from administrative, incentivized task, and survey data – but does not increase total search effort. It also raises earnings and job quality, consistent with inefficient sorting due to limited information. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2023-11-02 |
| By: | Sarah Bernhard; Sandra Bohmann; Susann Fiedler; Maximilian Kasy; Jürgen Schupp; Frederik Schwerter |
| Abstract: | How does basic income (a regular, unconditional, guaranteed cash transfer) impact labor supply? We show that in search models of the labor market with income effects, this impact is theoretically ambiguous: Employment and job durations might increase or decrease, match surplus might be shifted to workers or employers, and worker surplus might be reallocated between wages and job amenities. We thus turn to empirical evidence to study this impact. We conducted a pre-registered RCT in Germany, starting 2021, where recipients received 1200 Euro/month for three years. We draw on both administrative and survey data, and find no extensive margin (employment) response, and no impact on on job transitions from either non-employment or employment. We do find a small statistically insignificant intensive margin shift to part-time employment, which implies an excess burden (reduction of government revenues) of ca 7.5% of the transfer. We furthermore observe a small increase of enrollment in training or education. |
| Keywords: | basic income, randomized controlled trial, labor supply |
| JEL: | I38 J22 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11940 |
| By: | Christoph Engel (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn) |
| Abstract: | In an experiment on the large language model GPT-4o, a supplier always makes a higher profit if it replaces uniform contract terms with a set of terms between which the custom-er may choose. The extra profit results from price discrimination. There is a first order and a second order effect. The first order effect results from heterogeneous willingness to pay for a more protective term. The second order effect results from the possibility that con-tract choice is a signal for general willingness to pay for the traded commodity. In the ex-periment, the effect is bigger if the least protective version is labelled as the default, and more protective terms as an “upgrade†. The effect is smaller if, conversely, the most pro-tective version is labelled as the default and less protective (and cheaper) versions as an opportunity for “savings†. The effect is also bigger if the supplier only sets the price after it knows which version of the contract the consumer chooses. The profit increasing effect of giving the consumer a choice is strong. Most pieces of demographic information (which the supplier might, for instance, learn from cookie data) have a significantly smaller effect on profit. If the supplier combines cookie information about demographic markers with contract choice, it often even makes an extra profit. The main results replicate on Gemini 2.5 flash. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpg:wpaper:2025_08 |
| By: | Christoph Becker; Dietmar Fehr; Hannes Rau; Stefan T. Trautmann; Yilong Xu |
| Abstract: | How do different characteristics of pay-for-performance schemes affect fairness perceptions? In two studies, we systematically consider three major classes of incentive schemes: continuous piece rate incentives, discrete bonus schemes, and tournament incentives. We find that pay inequality has a strong negative effect on perceived fairness. Controlling for pay inequality, people consider piece rate schemes fairer than those with a discrete bonus and a tournament design in particular. Adding performance-dependent resource advantages or handicaps negatively influences perceived fairness. We find that procedural fairness judgments are an important factor influencing overall judgments and demonstrate in a third study that the latter have relevant behavioral consequences. |
| Keywords: | incentives, merit, contract design, fairness, inequality |
| JEL: | C90 D63 J31 J41 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11943 |
| By: | Zickfeld, Janis H.; Elbæk, Christian T. |
| Abstract: | Verschuere et al. (2023) examine the effect of using the best available cue (use-the-best heuristic) on deception detection accuracy across 9 studies. In Study 8 they find that focusing on judging one single cue (detailedness) compared to multiple cues (four cues including detailedness, affect, unexpected complications, and admitting lack of memory) increases the percentage of correctly identifying (i.e. accuracy) transcribed statements as true or false (single cue: 58.93% vs. multiple cues: 54.26%, d = 0.41, BF10 = 2.45). Similarly, in Study 9, they find that a single cue treatment including an explicit decisions rule increases accuracy (66.41%) compared to a multiple cue treatment (59.14%; d = 0.48, BF10 = 7.95). We performed a direct replication (N = 549) including both the implicit rule single cue treatment from Study 8, the explicit rule single cue treatment from Study 9, and the multiple cue treatment from both studies by using the same procedures (i.e., methods and analysis) as Study 9 with new data and a broader sample. First, we successfully replicate Study 9 by finding that the explicit rule single cue treatment increases accuracy (67%) compared to the multiple cue treatment (64.2%, d = 0.20, BF10 = 1.23). However, we do not replicate Study 8, by finding that the implicit rule single cue treatment results in descriptively less accuracy (62.4%) compared to the multiple cue treatment (64.2%, d = -0.13, BF10 = 0.06). Thus, we confirm the sign, magnitude and statistical significance of the point estimates for detection accuracy for Study 9 but not Study 8. Second, we test the sensitivity of the results by performing a multilevel model accounting for within-variation in participants and statements and observe similar results in that we replicate effects for Study 9 but not Study 8. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:236 |
| By: | Monteiro, Sofia; Pujol-Busquets, Georgina; Smith, James; Larmuth, Kate |
| Abstract: | There is reasonable concern that self-reported nutrition assessments do not reflect actual food choices. Yet, a correspondence between both is imperative to evaluate any intervention on food preferences. This paper makes such a comparison. It provides evidence from a low-carbohydrate nutrition education program, which is assessed with both surveys and an incentivized behavioral measure of food choice. The main result is that there is a large correspondence between survey and behavioral measures for our sample of 95 women from two historically underprivileged communities in the Western Cape, South Africa. Compared to the control, the treatment group reported a 35% lower intake from the high-carbohydrate/ ultra-processed food Red List and 60% higher intake from the low-carbohydrate whole foods Green List. The treatment group was also 40% less likely to buy anything from the Red List with a supermarket voucher. In terms of the Green List, the treatment group was significantly more likely to buy eggs, organ meat, traditional fats, avocado and fish but there was no difference in red meat and chicken, non-starchy vegetables and full cream dairy. Low-cost incentivized measures of revealed preferences can be designed to validate subjective habits, increasing confidence in the quality of evidence from nutrition intervention studies. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwkie:319531 |
| By: | Alex Krumer; Felix Otto; Tim Pawlowski |
| Abstract: | The salience of reference points and expectations may significantly influence the loss aversion mechanism in effort provision. We exploit a natural experiment where highly professional and incentivized individuals perform their task in a setting with exogenous variation of reference-point salience. While a relevant reference point is salient in some cases, where it influences individuals' expectations, it is obscured in others. This enables us to examine the interplay between reference-point salience and expectation-based loss aversion in shaping effort provision. Exploiting quasi-random variation around the reference point, our regression discontinuity analyses reveal that individuals with positive expectations outperform those with negative expectations only when the reference point is salient. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2506.13382 |
| By: | Abate, Gashaw T.; Bernard, Tanguy; Bulte, Erwin; Miguel, Jérémy Do Nascimento; Sadoulet, Elisabeth |
| Abstract: | When quality attributes of a product are not directly observable, third-party certification (TPC) enables buyers to purchase the quality they are most interested in and reward sellers accordingly. Beyond product characteristics, buyers’ use of TPC services also depends on market conditions. We study the introduction of TPC in typical smallholder-based agriculture value chains of low-income countries, where traders must aggregate products from many small-scale producers before selling in bulk to downstream processors, and where introduction of TPC services has oftentimes failed. We develop a theoretical model identifying how different market conditions affect traders’ choice to purchase quality-certified output from farmers. Using a purposefully designed lab-in-the-field experiment with rural wheat traders in Ethiopia, we find mixed support for the model’s prediction: traders’ willingness to specialize in certified output does increase with the share of certified wheat in the market, and this effect is stronger in larger markets. It, however, does not decrease with the quality of uncertified wheat in the market. We further analyze conditions where traders deviate from the theoretically optimal behavior and discuss implications for future research and public policies seeking to promote TPC in smallholder-based food value-chains. |
| Keywords: | agriculture; certification; markets; quality; smallholders; Ethiopia; Africa; Eastern Africa |
| Date: | 2024–06–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:144973 |
| By: | Ryota IWAMOTO; Takunori ISHIHARA; Takanori IDA |
| Abstract: | This study empirically investigates the differences in risk preferences and loss aversion between humans and generative AI. We conduct a nationwide online survey of 4, 838 individuals and generate AI responses under identical conditions by using personas constructed from demographic attributes. The results show that in gain domains, both humans and the AI select risk-averse options and exhibit similar preference patterns. However, in loss domains, AI shows a stronger risk-loving tendency and responds more sharply to individual attributes such as gender, age, and income. We retrain the AI by fine-tuning it based on human choice data. After fine-tuning, the AI’s preference distribution moves closer to that of humans, with loss-related decisions showing the greatest improvement. Using Wasserstein distance, we also confirm that fine-tuning reduces the behavioral gap between AI and humans. |
| Keywords: | bias, bias, loss aversion, risk preference, generative AI, persona, fine-tuning, Wasserstein distance |
| JEL: | D91 C91 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kue:epaper:e-25-006 |